Stark Problems
by forever-a-thief
Summary: Tony is called in to help with a little problem... his father. Somehow, the man has been brought forward in time, and no one knows why or by who! Can Tony deal with Howard without punching him? Can Howard figure out why everyone who knows Tony seems to hate his guts? Will they be able to get him back to the proper time?
1. So, the Situation is

"Sir, Agent Coulson is on his way up with what he insists is very important news." Jarvis's voice echoed through the bedroom and Tony groaned as he rolled over, looking at the clock on his bedside table. It was almost two in the morning, and Coulson had decided to drop by. WHY?

With another disgruntled groan, Tony drew himself up and shuffled his way into the living room. Without even bothering to meet Coulson at the elevator, Tony headed straight to the bar instead. Once he had poured himself a generous amount of scotch, he took a swig and nodded at Coulson as he made his way over, placing his hands on the bartop and tapping his fingers distractedly.

"And to what do I owe this visit, Agent? Did aliens decide to attack New York again, or did you just miss me that much?" Tony snarked, taking another swig of his drink. If he had to be awake, he was at least going to enjoy it.

Coulson looked up at him, seeming almost guilty, and then sighed. "Mr. Stark, tonight at approximately nine o'clock, SHIELD scientists picked up an odd energy reading coming from one of the old SSR laboratories downtown. Agents were sent to investigate and came back with a man. A man claiming to be Howard Stark." Coulson spoke slowly, carefully, and Tony's heart stuttered for a moment before he fell back on the stool behind him, distractedly taking another long swig of alcohol from the bottle closest to him. Coulson watched him carefully and continued when Tony looked up at him, still shocked into silence.

"He was brought back to headquarters in a blacked out van. They ran a few blood tests and he was telling the truth; he really is Howard Stark. He says that the date is September 12, 1952, which makes him 38 years old. For him, it's only been eight years since Captain Rogers went down in the ice and he doesn't even know he has a son; for him, you haven't been born yet."

All Tony can think is that _the bastard doesn't even know about me._ The man being held at SHIELD headquarters doesn't know all the shit Tony's had to put up with through the years because of him; his childhood, what that man's death did to him. Unable to say anything, Tony took another drink and stared at Coulson, lost.

After a long moment of silence, he finally asked, "What do you want me to do? You said he doesn't even know about me."

Coulson seemed prepared for that and smiled reassuringly. "We just thought you might want to go and see him. Or at least know that he's here. A few of our men are working on how he got here in the first place, but they haven't gotten very far."

Ah, that's what the rush was all about, but even so, Tony grew a little annoyed at that comment. "So you're not only bringing me in so I know, you're bringing me in because you don't know how the hell it happened or how to send him back."

The agent looked embarrassed but nodded. "Well, yes. That's another perk of you knowing." He sobered quickly and stared Tony down. "But remember, Tony, he doesn't know you. All the things you've been through, he hasn't done them yet. Don't take it all out on him, if you do decide to meet with him."

Tony glared at Coulson and snarled, "I don't give a shit about him. I'll help send him back, but I don't want to talk to him. Or see him. Unless I get to beat the living hell out of him, keep us in different rooms." Coulson nodded, the embodiment of understanding, and made to leave.

"Wait, where do you think you're going? I'll come now, just let me get dressed." When Tony noticed the odd look Coulson was giving him, he shrugged and frowned, pointing at his watch. "Well, you already woke me up, and I'm not sleeping after that. The sooner this nightmare is over, the sooner I can get back to," he trailed off, waving his hand vaguely at the tower and his lab. Coulson nodded and waited near the elevator while Tony changed.

When Tony walked through the doors, he was handed a file full of the energy readings from Howard's arrival. As he was flipping through the pages, he heard a somewhat familiar voice shouting.

"I don't know what the hell's going on, so I demand I get some answers! Something happened that's beyond you as well, or you would've sent me back already."

Someone tried to calm him down, saying they didn't know what he was talking about, he was still where he had always been, there had just been an unexplainable power surge and he had blacked out. Even Tony scoffed at that explaination.

"Oh, please. I can tell this technology is at least twenty years ahead of what I have, and I'm pretty far ahead of everyone else. Where am I?" Tony was starting to feel uneasy. Even if the man was a bastard, he felt he would be reacting the same way if he were in his situation.

Hearing enough, Tony threw the folder down on a table and stomped over, barely glancing over his father before turning to the SHIELD agent, his stomach making odd flip-flops. Thankfully, he recognized the kid. "Hey, Norton. That's enough. I got it from here, why don't you go tell Coulson what's up?" Norton turned to Tony and gaped, turning from Tony to Howard and back. "It's alright. Tell Coulson I changed my mind. But I won't punch him, I swear."

Norton nodded and almost sprinted away. Tony watched him go with a cocky grin that quickly disappeared when he turned to look at the now-suspicious Howard.

"Who were you threatening to punch? That Coulson fella, or me?" When Tony didn't answer and simply rose a bored eyebrow, Howard sighed and decided to stare Tony down, instead. "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

That made Tony grin wide and break down into long, loud, slighly-mad laughter that made Howard's eyes go wide. "Are, are you alright? Mister, I didn't say anything funny, what's going on?"

Trying to sober quickly, Tony stood straight again and wiped away the tears from his eyes. "Oh, God. Sorry, that was just. Ugh, too funny. Sorry." Taking a deep breath, Tony extended his hand. "Tony Stark. Nice to meet you. Kinda. Well, this version of you, anyway." Howard gave off a forced air of nonchalance, even though Tony noticed his hand twitching in agitation, and then shook Tony's outstretched hand.

"Howard Stark. So, how are we related? Cousins, or something?"

Tony grinned again, turned to the surveillence camera pointed straight at them, and winked. "Naw, nothing like that. I'm actually your son." When Howard's jaw clenched and he was looked up and down increduously, Tony leaned forward and mumbled, "The year's 2013. Somebody, we don't know who, ripped you forward about sixty years. These hacks are trying to figure out how the hell it happened, but after six hours, they decided to call me in."

Howard watched Tony warily, not quite sure if he should believe him or not. "Sorry, Mister, but why should I believe anything you've just told me? How can I possibly know this is true?"

Tony sighed long-sufferingly, and only hesitated for a moment before gripping Howard's shoulder and leading him toward the doors. "Coulson!" he shouted out as he saw the agent watching him with a thinly veiled glare. "We're going to the Tower. We'll work on stuff there. You guys just, keep trying to figure things out here. We'll be there." Tony threw his free hand around, pointing and waving as he spoke, and then led the bewildered Howard out of the building. Coulson sighed as he crossed his arms but allowed them to leave. No big deal. They were being tailed, anyway.


	2. Introduction to the Present

Howard was silent all the way to the tower, opting to trade off on staring out the windows and going through the glove compartment, skimming through the owner's manual before chucking it into the back seat. Tony, meanwhile, was having a mini panic attack in his head as he drove. He was having second thoughts about bringing Howard with him, but decided there was really no other choice. This was such a bad idea.

But, he reasoned with himself, he could always push him off on Bruce, or Pepper, or anyone really, come morning.

Oh, wait. It was morning.

The sun was just coming above the horizion as they pulled into the garage, and Tony parked carefully before turning and walking away, expecting Howard to be right behind him. When he got to the elevator, though, he turned to find Howard staring at his many cars with wide, interested eyes. A sudden realization hit Tony, then. Howard was younger than he was. Howard would only be 38, while Tony was nearing his mid-forties. Granted, the age difference wasn't too vast, but just how young his father was right then really made him stop and stare for a few minutes, unsettled.

Howard was so totally engrossed in his perusal of Tony's car collection that he didn't notice the odd silence until he glanced back at Tony to ask a question and found him bent in half, breathing a bit heavily.

He rushed to his future son's side and patted him lightly, letting him know he had noticed him. "Hey, um. What's wrong? I just got a little distracted, I didn't mean to. . . ," Howard trailed off as Tony straightened and coughed unhealthily, turning on his heel to press the elevator button. "I have some cigarettes if you want one. The doctors say they calm the nerves," Howard said with a crooked grin. "I just say they feel good."

"Naw, it's fine. I'm fine. God. Sorry, it's just. Man, you're young." Howard followed him into the elevator with a wide grin and nodded.

"Yeah, I suppose I am. How old am I now? Almost 100, right? Lord, I must look terrible! If I'm even still around." He looked up at Tony hopefully but Tony shook his head.

"No. I'm not giving you anything. If you really want to know, you'll have to figure it out yourself." Howard shrugged his shoulders easily and grinned again, twisting around to look at the elevator.

"Well, this is all much nicer than anything I have. This really is 2013, then?" Tony nodded and let out a pent-up breath when the doors whooshed open. He led his father into the penthouse and called out to his AI.

"Jarvis! When's Pepper supposed to be in?" Howard perked up at the mention of Jarvis, and he grinned as he twirled around, looking for his old friend.

"Miss Potts is set to arrive at eight, sir. Should I notify her of your guest, and ask her to come earlier?" Jarvis asked. Howard glared at the ceiling and pouted.

"Jarvis is dead, isn't he? This is just some robot or something, not really him."

"You got it in one go, Pops. He's an AI; Artificial Intelligence. He runs the house for me." Tony paused, a sentimental smile on his face. "I liked Jarvis, so I thought I'd keep him around." He gave Howard a snarky grin as he rounded towards the bar, calling out to Jarvis to let Pepper know the situation. Howard followed him warily and leaned against the bar, staring out the glass windows at the city.

"Lot's changed," he mused aloud as he took the drink Tony pushed towards him. He didn't even bother to check what it was before taking a long swallow, throwing it back down on the bartop with another lopsided grin. "Another round, on you, kid," he said, giving Tony a wink as he went to stand closer to the windows, peering down at the ever-present traffic down below. "This is just crazy," the younger man mused quietly. Tony followed him over, sighing lightly and taking peeks over at Howard until they heard the elevator doors swish open and Jarvis announce a bit unneccesarily, "Miss Potts has arrived, sir."

Both men turned to see her, but Tony was the first to react, rushing over when the look of pure anger took over her face when she realized who was standing next to him.

"Pep, Pep, it's alright. Yes, I know who that is and no, I didn't do it." He took her over to the elevator again and tried to calm her down.

"You know who that is, right?! That's your father, Tony. What the hell is going on?" Sighing, Tony explained the situation. He also explained that he was trying to start on good terms with the guy, and was refraining from hitting him simply because the younger man didn't have a clue about anything and was extremely confused as to why he had been yanked to the future. That seemed to calm her down considerably.

Tugging on her arm, Tony led her over to Howard, grinning. "Alright, Howard. This is Virginia Potts, but we all call her Pepper. She runs everything for me and is all-around amazing, puts up with all my crap, and basically loves the hell out of me." Pepper hit Tony in the arm and held her hand out for Howard.

"My, nice catch, Tony. Howard Stark," he said, giving her a wink and a decent shake. When they pulled apart, Tony saw the unamused look on Pepper's face and tried to head her off before she got too angry.

"Yeah, alright, enough chatting. Pepper, I was hoping you could take him for a while. I don't know, go see the sights or fill him in on everything? I have to get down to the lab and try to figure all this out before Coulson shows up and yells at me. Again. Yells at me again. Did I mention the yelling? It gets pretty annoying actually, so I'm trying to avoid it as much as possible in the future." When he saw Pepper's frank look, he put on his best pleading face. "Please, Pep?"

Sighing longsufferingly, she nodded. "Fine. But this bumps me up to 13%, at least." Tony grinned cheekily and turned back towards Howard, who was glaring at them.

"I don't need to be babysat. And I can probably help with the whole 'getting me back to 1952' thing. I'm not stupid." Howard raised an eyebrow when Tony started stammering, and that made him stop dead in his tracks, causing him to take a deep breath and close his eyes, old memories flashing through his mind unbidden because of that one movement. Shaking away the sickening feeling, Tony took a step back and was just about to agree just to get the man to stop looking at him like that when Jarvis interrupted him.

"Excuse me, sir, but there seems to be a group of odd machines attacking citizens approximately twenty blocks away; they appear to be Doom-bots. Shall I call for the Avengers?"

Now it was Tony's turn to sigh. "Fine. Let the police know our ETA is about fifteen minutes." Turning to Pepper and Howard, who was giving him a funny look, Tony leaned over to give Pepper a quick peck on the cheek and then waltzed past them, heading for the roof, where he could throw the suit on and get away from Howard as quickly as possible.

While the suit was attaching itself, Tony watched Howard's reaction out of the corner of his eye. Howard and Pepper were standing at the window, watching him. His father's eyes were huge and he was obviously taking in all the details, alighting on Tony's arc reactor for the first time. Tony grinned when the younger man noticed it and his jaw dropped.

Finally, the suit was together and he pushed off of the platform, heading downtown to meet everyone else.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Howard shouted, pointing at Tony as the suit began attaching to him. The moment he saw the little light in the center of his son's chest, his mouth sagged and he turned to Pepper helplessly. "What?" was all he could say before Tony pushed off the platform and flew away. "What's going on?" he shouted, suddenly frightened for this son he didn't even know, who was apparently hugely afraid of him and very good at hiding it.

"Calm down, he does this sort of stuff all the time. He's a," she faltered for a moment but continued, "a superhero, I guess you could say. He's part of a team SHIELD put together called the Avengers, and they protect the city when bad people try to attack it." She felt like that was a terrible explanation, but she didn't have time to tell him everything because she was more interested in catching the news.

She walked over to the tv and switched on the news channel that always seemed to have the best coverage of the Avengers' fights. Howard settled next to her and they watched together as the fight continued. Pepper named off the other team members for Howard and explained a bit about each. When Steve showed up on the screen, Howard leaned forward excitedly and pointed.

"That's Steve! How the hell is he here? Did they finally find him?" When Pepper explained, Howard beamed and sat back, grinning like crazy as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his jacket and started smoking profusely. Pepper wrinkled up her nose at the smell but allowed it, letting the man from the past relax in peace.

Yes, this definitely bumped her up to at least 13%.


	3. Dad, Meet the Team

Tony wiped the sweat from his face as he looked around at the ruin that was what was left of one of the busiest streets in New York City. It was now filled with rubble and a few injured, that were quickly being ushered away from the sparking remains of the Doom-bots that had been attacking minutes earlier. Idly, he watched as Steve shoved a large bit of rubble off of him and struggled to get back on his feet. Leaning down, Tony reached out and helped steady the man, earning a warm smile and a quick, "Thanks."

Looking around, Tony spotted Clint and Natasha checking each other over for injuries as inconspicuously as they could, Bruce slowly losing the dark green coloring of the Hulk that made him look like he was about to vomit as he shrunk down, and Thor walking around the area with a big smile as he kicked at the machines they had destroyed.

Rolling his eyes, Tony followed Cap towards the others. "Everyone alright?" Steve asked, checking everyone over carefully. Everyone nodded and Cap grinned, looking at the giant mess left behind. "I guess we'll help clean up a bit. At least clear the road, for now."

Everyone groaned but nodded, following the Captain's lead as they started shoving rubble out of the way. Tony had Jarvis call up some people to transport the bots back to the Tower for him, before he went back to helping with the clean up.

Another two hours later, the road was clear enough for Cap's conscience to allow them all to leave. Tony dithered, not really wanting to get back home for once. Everyone noticed how off Tony seemed, and it fell to Steve to corner him and get the story.

"Tony, what's wrong? You seem a bit jumpy." Steve studied the dark haired man closely before reaching out and setting a heavy hand on his shoulder. "C'mon Tony, what's up?"

Tony seemed to weight his options before finally giving in. With a huge sigh, Tony grumbled, "My father." Though that was extremely vague, Steve knew that Tony and Howard had had a rough time together. A hand ran down his face as he tried to get the words out. "There were some weird readings, and SHIELD came to me to get my thoughts on them, but they found someone there. It was my father," he grumbled, his face twitching in irritation.

"Oh," Steve said eloquently, blinking owlishly at Tony in surprise. "Um," he tried again, words failing him all of a sudden. Tony smiled grimly, totally understanding his speechlessness.

"He's back at the Tower right now, with Pepper. Probably watched the news with her. God, Steve. I kind of just jumped into bringing him home with me. I mean, he was freaking out on the agents and confused and I could understand, I mean I would have freaked out if that had happened to me, too, but I just..., I mean, he's my father! What am I supposed to _do_?!" He spoke in one long sentence, barely stopping to breathe, and then his eyes grew wide as he tried to reign in the oncoming panic attack.

"Tony! Tony, it's alright. How about this, we'll all come back to the Tower with you. Kind of diffuse the tension, yeah?" Inwardly, Steve was growing nervous himself. He had resigned himself to the fact that he would never see Howard again. But now that he was going to be coming face to face with his old friend again, he wasn't quite sure how to feel. He was nervous, and angry, and happy, and so many other things that he couldn't even name. But he had to help Tony out.

Tony looked up, catching his breath and smiling gratefully. "Yeah. Yeah, that'll help. He'll be so busy with all of you, he won't even notice me. Yeah, that'll work. Thanks, Cap." He clapped Steve on the shoulder and then started to move past him to the other curious Avengers.

"You know you can't run from him forever, right? Eventually you'll have to have an actual conversation with your old man." Tony froze mid-step, but then turned a cocky grin on the man over his shoulder.

"I am Tony Stark, and I am _brilliant_ at avoiding things. You just watch." His smile faltered for a moment as he turned back to the others, but then he was oozing charm once more. Steve shook his head in exasperation as he followed the man.

"Alright, everyone. Who wants to meet my old man? He's back at the Tower right now after a freak trip through time, and I really don't want to deal with any of that right now. Now, who's coming?" he asked jovially, continuing to walk as if assuming everyone would just follow after him.

The others turned to eachother, raising eyebrows and grinning like loons, before they turned and followed Tony back to the Tower.

"Pepper!" Tony shouted the moment his foot crossed the threshold. She rushed out from the living room and smiled, wrapping her arms around him. "Alright, I'm alright. Everyone's alright, Pep."

She smiled and then tapped his chestplate, before looking behind him at the others. "Ah! You brought everyone!" she said, grinning. Quietly, she whispered, "Moral support, huh?" Tony blushed but nodded, looking over his shoulder at Steve, who was watching their interaction with a lopsided grin.

"Um, do you mind introducing everyone while I get the suit off? It'll only take a minute, promise." He turned his big puppy dog eyes on to Pepper, and the woman had no defense.

"Oh, alright. Just hurry up. No distractions!" she warned, waving a stern finger in his face before shoving him toward the elevator. The suit would need some work done after that fight, so he would take it off in the lab. As the doors slid closed, he heard Pepper's falsely cheery voice ushering everyone into the kitchen, with promises of warm food and fine alcohol.

He stumbled into the lab in a jittery daze, letting Jarvis deal with getting the suit off of him as he stood in the middle of the room, just thinking. He still wasn't quite sure how he should feel about the man upstairs, but he knew Pepper always stayed true to his word, and distractions would not be tolerated.

He sighed as the final piece of red metal was detached and made his way back to the elevator. The entire way back up to the penthouse, he was giving himself a half-hearted pep talk. He would have people to back him up tonight. Pepper and Steve would diffuse the tension nicely; Pepper, because she was just simply _good_ at that, and Steve because he and Howard had so much to catch up on. They _had_ been friends during the war.

With one final deep breath, Tony left the safety of the elevator and followed the sounds of talking back into the kitchen. The table and counters were covered with food and drinks, though Barton had decided to perch on the edge of the counter instead of sitting at the table like a normal person. Romanoff stood just to his left, leaning against the counter and staring at Howard as if she could see right through him, which she probably could. She was most likely standing there picking him apart piece by piece. Pepper was standing near the doorway, hovering with a worried look on her face while she waited for him to reappear.

"Hey, Pep," he said quietly, coming up beside her and wrapping her up in a hug as he took in the rest of the scene. Howard was thankfully distracted by Steve, who was trying to catch his old friend up as quickly as he could. Bruce sat on the other side of the man, a tired smile on his face as he watched the enthusiastic conversation going on in front of him. He caught Tony's eye as he entered and his smile became just a bit less sad, but no less understanding.

Tony nodded back at Bruce, grinned at the Hawk and Widow, then reluctantly disentangled himself from Pepper and took his own seat at the table, beside the sprawled out Thor, who was gulping down a large lager, seeming to only be half paying attention to the conversation. Howard's attention was immediately wretched from Steve to look over his new son properly.

"You alright there, Tony?" he asked, his eyes flicking from his eyes down to his glowing chest. Tony bristled; he hated being reminded that the thing was stuck in his chest and just why it was there in the first place.

"Fine," he snapped, earning a confused look from his father, before the man gave him one more long look.

"That was quite the tumble, back there. The television showed the whole thing! That suit of yours must have taken years to make. Do you mind if I take a look at it sometime? Maybe when you show me your lab so we can get cracking at those energy readings from my arrival?" Howard fired one sentence after another at his son, who was getting incresingly paler as the man continued. Steve, sensing the unease pouring off of Tony, tried to change the subject, but Thor beat him to it.

"So, father of the Man of Iron, how did this come to be? You showing up here, now, in your future? How did you best time?" Thor boomed, entering the conversation for the first time that night. It was a question everyone was wondering; even Tony, who hadn't had time to read through the debriefing SHIELD had sent him.

Howard still seemed shocked to be talking with a Norse god, but he tried to answer the question quickly. His face turned intense as he tried to remember clearly. "I was with Peggy at the new SSR base we had just set up. We were going over some papers, and all of a sudden, there was this great white light. I don't know what happened to her, but when I woke up, I was in a pitch dark room. I found out later it was the same room in that SSR facility, but just the wrong time. I tried to get the electricity on, but it wasn't working. As soon as I gave up on that, a team of ten or so people rushed in with torches and guns and had me taken into custody within seconds. They were trying to tell me that I was still where I was supposed to be, when I _obviously_ wasn't."

Despite himself, Tony was hanging on every word the man said. This was a good start to figuring out what had happened in that old facility. And the reminder that the man had been on his own and confused made him relax minutely, remembering just why he had agreed to bring the man home with him. If he could just approach his father as someone who needed his help, and not as the man he had grown up with, they all might just get through this without any serious bloodshed.

The room went silent after his description, as everyone tried to recall if they had ever heard of anything like that happening before. "Well, that has got to be the weirdest thing I've heard in a while," Barton mumbled into his beer, sharing a look with Romanoff before they both started snorting laughs into their brews. Steve rolled his eyes and leaned back comfortably in his chair, while Bruce grinned at Tony, both excited to start unraveling anything to do with science. Thor just smiled, glad that his interjection into the conversation had relieved the tension.

The group passed the next few hours in conversation, Steve trying to keep Howard busy while Tony and Bruce brought a tablet out from somewhere and went over the energy readings from Howard's arrival, bickering back and forth. Pepper and Romanoff watched the scene and traded amused looks throughout the night, Barton and Thor huddled in another corner of the table trading battle stories.

When it got quite late, the team started to disperse, and Tony slowly began panicking again. Barton and Romanoff were the first to leave, giving the excuse that they had work in the morning, which was technically true but really, alcohol never really seemed to affect either of them. After they left, Thor stood as well. He was set to head back to Asgard for a few days, and he disappeared from view quite quickly after flying out the window. Howard blanched as he realized how high up they were when the man simply waved goodbye and jumped out the window, no one else even batting an eye at his departure. Steve and Bruce were both staying at the Tower for now, but they left soon after for the own rooms.

Pepper gave one look at the two men left in the room and sighed. "I'll go get a room ready for you, Howard. You have to be exhausted by now." Her worried eyes roved over Tony momentarily, before she turned and left the room. Tony stood near the door, staring at the floor. Across the table, Howard stood, staring at his son. A nagging feeling in his stomach was telling him that perhaps he hadn't been a very good father, and vowed to find out as much as he could tomorrow.

"Tony, I...," he started, but the second he opened his mouth, Tony's head jerked up and he started at Howard with such an intensity that it almost knocked Howard off of his feet. When he had recovered, he raised his eyebrows and asked timidly, "Tony? Are you alright?"

Tony continued to stare at Howard, until they could both hear Pepper heading back towards the kitchen. Tony let out a long breath through his teeth, took one last look up and down his father, and then turned and left the room, shaking his head and grumbling under his breath.

Howard watched his son leave in confusion. He had no clue why the man was so hot and cold with him all the time, but there really wasn't much he could do about it. He would be gone soon, and none of this would matter anymore, except maybe as a warning on what not to do in his future. Shifting uncomfortably, Howard just couldn't accept that his son couldn't stand to be alone in the same room with him for too long. As Pepper arrived to usher him to his new room, Howard remained silent, staring moodily at the floor.

Maybe he could fix this, before he was sent back?


End file.
